Based on a card design by E H Shepard, this scene showing Toad, Rat, Mole and Badger providing seasonal music for two watching children was originally sent to subscribers to the Reprint Society in 1954 to announce the fact that Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (illustrated, of course, by Shepard) was their 'Christmas extra volume' for the year.
I really like the idea that, having rescued Toad Hall from the stoats and the weasels, Mr Toad's new 'fad' is nothing more adventurous than playing the tuba in the village band!
Such a cool card!
ReplyDeleteWind in the Willows is one of those Oh so Satisfying books where the Author and illustrator compliment each other so perfectly. That is a lovely card.
ReplyDeleteI have a small set of framed postcards? of horse cartoons by Shepherd that I find very pleasing :0)
I have a special love of 'A Wind in the Willows' as Kenneth Grahame lived in the house opposite where I grew up in the lovely village of Pangbourne, Berkshire. It is there that the River Pang runs into The Thames and it is said that the River Pang and its meadows provided the setting for the riverside in the book. This is extremely unlikely as he wrote the book before he moved into our village but it remains Pangbourne's claim to fame! My father remembers his father doing work for KG and he was, by their accounts, something of an bad-tempered eccentric and a recluse! A lovely book though with well-drawn characters.
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